Snowpiercer – Season 2 Episode 7 Recap & Review

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Episode 7 of Snowpiercer Season 2 begins with Bess Till looking over the dead bodies of the Breachmen, killed in the wake of the paranoia gripping Snowpiercer. Boscovic is understandably distraught while Bess, Layton and Roche discuss the volatile situation in the carriage. Well Boscovic doesn’t want Layton nearby so it falls to the Pastor to keep him company for now.

Meanwhile, Bess recruits LJ and Osweiller to her cause. Given the vintage button she found on the ground, she suspects someone has answers to what’s going on. Well, Osweiller opens up and claims a woman named Katya may be able to help. She’s privy to vintage gear and may well have some knowledge surrounding its origin.

Till heads up and visits Katya, who claims it’s a vintage button from a very old coat. It turns out someone fancy and beautiful came by earlier in the week to trade, giving Bess some crucial clues to go on.

Meanwhile, Audrey relaxes as best she can in a warm bath onboard Big Alice. Wilford antagonizes Layton and the others via the comms, asking about the civil unrest they’re experiencing.

When Audrey arrives on the scene, she speaks to Layton and tells him she’s not ready to come back yet. As the connection is severed, the Snowpiercer residents prepare for the worst and believe she has been compromised.

Well, on Big Alice Wilford confronts Audrey about the screwdriver he found in her jacket. She admits to the sabotage plan she was placed onboard to commit but claims she’s staying for him now. Paranoid Wilford doesn’t believe her and instead brings Audrey before an old crew member of his. A very-much-alive Kevin is locked in a room alone and in need of “fixing”.

With Audrey locked inside with him, she’s put in a difficult position as she hears what happened to Kevin in the bath. Given how adept Audrey is with manipulation, she claims Wilford saved him and that he loves him. It’s obviously a lie but she does her best to get herself out of this situation. After shutting off the lights, this hypnosis seems to work as she turns Kevin into a glorified slave, doing Wilford’s bidding.

Back on the Snowpiercer, Ruth speaks to Roche about her choice and how conflicted she is over what to do. Given they served for seven years together and had order during that time, this recent spat of turbulence is causing her to doubt the validity of this new world order.

Layton’s volatile message to the train, standing up for the Tail after the deaths of the Breakmen, only divides the train further. Layton tries to get answers from Pike but following his haircut, he’s gone full-on Floki from Vikings on us.

Back on Snowpiercer, Bess Till and Layton find the owner of the coat. Sitting in first class, Till uncovers one of the foot soldiers who boasts that Till is two steps behind and the revolution has already started.

Unfortunately that much is true as hostilities between the Tailies and the rest of the train reaches fever pitch. The problems in the market are spreading through the train as Zara and Ruth hold out with a bunch of Tailies.

When Winnie heads off alone, Ruth chases. Of course, she’s afraid of the official, especially after what happened to her Mum. She tells Winnie what she did was wrong and wishes she could take back her actions.

With Winnie safe, Layton and Ruth join together and head down the train to try and save Pike, who’s captured by the mob ready to make an example out of him. At the same time, Till figures out that the Pastor is the one behind the attacks and instrumental in organizing what happened to the Breakmen.

He wants order and believes Wilford is the one to give it. This, inevitably, leads to the two fighting and trading blows. Unfortunately, the Pastor is not alone, eventually sacrificing himself for the “greater good.”

The mob are desperate to make an example out of someone and eventually Layton steps up and decides to sacrifice himself. As he looks set to take Layton’s arm and kill him, Ruth manages to talk them down. She mentions how Layton is their leader and eventually the attack dies down. Its clear though that this conflict is far from over.

The Episode Review

Snowpiercer bows out this rather tepid mystery surrounding the killer with the reveal that it’s the pastor responsible. Given he’s been everywhere this season, and accompanied by pictures of Wilford all over the place, it was perhaps the most obvious choice that he would be the one responsible.

This entire subplot has been rather underwhelming in truth, while the fighting breaking out on the train looks set to consume into the episodes to come.

Things are more volatile than ever onboard too, and the lack of discernable class between the top and tail of the train makes it difficult to work out exactly what the solution is here. It’s true that Wilford’s rule and iron fist kept order onboard the train, but at what cost?

Layton and the others are still keeping secrets as well, descending down the slippery slope of lying to the other passengers. The only difference now is that they don’t have the veil of class or Wilford to hide behind.

In fact, Big Alice and the situation onboard there has been interesting but so far quite unthreatening for large swathes of this show. The fact that there’s only 100 or so onboard against the 2000 on Snowpiercer means this stalemate feels a little contrived. While I understand they have ice man, a swift spear to the throat would probably keep him down.

Still, the fighting looks set to consume the upcoming chapters and with no word on Melanie, what’s become of our engineer? Is she dead? I’m sure we’ll find out soon!